Frederick the Great discussion post 9
Jan. 13th, 2020 09:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cahn...I leave you guys alone for one weekend and it's time for a new Fritz post, lol!
I'm gonna reply to the previous post comments but I guess new letter-reading, etc. should go in this one :)
Frederick the Great links
I'm gonna reply to the previous post comments but I guess new letter-reading, etc. should go in this one :)
Frederick the Great links
Dueling
Date: 2020-01-13 09:04 pm (UTC)What is she fighting for? She wants boring men to leave her alone and let her read books. <3
Best reason to duel ever. And yes, if not for his misogyny and his regarding her as his romantic rival, Fritz could have totally sympathized. Mind you, do we really want to encourage him to fight duels? Émilie might have been content with just disarming her opponent, but Fritz? I fear it would end in him first writing a pamphlet about why duels are old fashioned and stupid, and then proceeding to slicing up the first person who makes the mistake of accepting a challenge.
Trufax: Lehndorff, with the usual WTF? of disbelief while watching as a groundling, notes in the middle of the Voltaire vs Maupertuis (vs Fritz) disaster, that Maupertuis challenged Voltaire to a duel. Not one of wits, a real fencing duel.
My reply:
I fear it would end in him first writing a pamphlet about why duels are old fashioned and stupid, and then proceeding to slicing up the first person who makes the mistake of accepting a challenge.
AHAHAHAHAAAAA *dies*
Are you kidding me? This, I *have* to see! :P
Trufax: Lehndorff, with the usual WTF? of disbelief while watching as a groundling, notes in the middle of the Voltaire vs Maupertuis (vs Fritz) disaster, that Maupertuis challenged Voltaire to a duel. Not one of wits, a real fencing duel.
Yup. And per my secondary sources, Maupertuis was extremely sick and coughing up blood at the time, but he felt he had to defend his honor even though he was in no shape to do so.
...Still not sure he wouldn't have won. Voltaire was no great shakes himself, in terms of physical conditioning or health.
Fritz would attack before the other person was ready, win, then write pamphlets defending himself. When he was invited to be someone's second, he would make an agreement with the opposite side and leave the principal stranded.
Eventually, people would realize that it needed to be three-on-one to counter his double-dealing. After starting the attack on a noncombatant second when nobody was ready, Fritz would spend most of his time trying to keep his opponents from joining forces. Eventually, after everyone was staggering around with blood streaming into their eyes, hardly able to see what was going on, one of his opponents would succumb to her gaping wound. Her second would step in, but so impressed by the fact that Fritz (with Heinrich as his reluctant second, natürlich) was still going, he would start attacking his former allies, shifting the terms of combat to two on two.
At the end of the day, everyone would be carried off the field on stretchers. Fritz would declare victory on the grounds that he was still alive. Nobody would be in a condition to argue. One of his opponents' seconds would come to visit him in the hospital bringing flowers and a get-well-soon card, but would make the mistake of challenging him to a duel later in life.
Fritz and Heinrich would stop quarreling long enough to heave a mutual great sigh and look at each other. "Fine." "Fine."
In unison: "Bring it on, kid."
Re: Dueling
Date: 2020-01-14 02:59 am (UTC)Re: Maupertuis vs Voltaire, Lehndorff‘s precise entry on April 15th is: Maupertuis‘ folly reaches new heights as he challenges Voltaire to a duel. The later answers through a lovely letter which makes one burst with laughter; it is even more biting than his „Akakia“.
(It should be added that generally, Lehndorff likes Maupertuis better, and certainly thought he was more in the right when the whole disaster gets rolling, but at this point has passed the WTF stage and reached the pop corn munching stage.)
Re: Dueling
Date: 2020-01-14 03:01 am (UTC)Sounds about right. Along with most of Europe!
Re: Dueling
Date: 2020-01-15 08:01 am (UTC)(BTw, having now finished the dissertation: master of the diplomatic breakup or not, he does sound pretty disenchanted with Fritz. I mean, telling his brother he's now on "the worst road, the one leading back to Prussia" at the end of his last trip to Italy while still returning to Fritz' court sounds not exactly like having mixed feelings.)
Most of Europe, though, sounds pretty gleeful. The not feeling sorry for Fritz or Voltaire helps, though I have to wonder, weren't there any sizable number of Maupertuis partisans?
Re: Dueling
Date: 2020-01-16 12:43 am (UTC)Also, Algarotti in Prussia was in a different position than most of Europe, called: "I could be next."
See also, this excerpt from my Algarotti write-up:
Algarotti still in Italy: P.S. Still love you! (Plz don't have your agents arrest me outside your country like you did Voltaire.)
Fritz: Not sure why you won't come back, but love you too!
Even with Algarotti's diplomatic personality in general, I read the last years of his correspondence with Fritz as "Don't gratuitously piss off the powerful and short-tempered king. Just remember the good times and keep him remembering the good times."
Maupertuis partisans: maybe, I don't know the situation in enough detail? But what I suspect is that it started out Voltaire partisans vs. Maupertuis partisans, but then the biggest Maupertuis partisan was Fritz, and then it stopped being about Maupertuis to most people. Much like Franz Ferdinand partisans were pretty thin on the ground in the trenches of WWI.
Re: Dueling
Date: 2020-01-17 12:47 pm (UTC)Also, Algarotti in Prussia was in a different position than most of Europe, called: "I could be next."
So true, and I admit I'm still giggling. And am even more impressed by ladies Mara Schmeling & Barbarina for daring to piss off the short tempered king anyway (after getting a lot of money out of him, as Voltaire sniffily notes) and getting their way. Some months in prison for their respective boyfriends nothwithstanding.
Re: Dueling
Date: 2020-01-16 05:27 am (UTC)Re: Dueling
Date: 2020-01-16 02:36 pm (UTC)You probably got Peter III as Elizaveta's second promptly changing sides as soon as Elizaveta was out of the picture, but the final opponent's second is Joseph, MT's second. After the war is over, he goes to meet his hero at Neisse at that famous meeting (as depicted in "Five Things"!). But later in life, he decides to start the War of the Bavarian Succession, knowing full well that Prussia's not going to stand for it. Middle-aged Heinrich and old man Fritz get on their horses and head south with their army.
It ends up being informally called the Potato War, because Joseph takes up an impregnable position and neither Heinrich nor Fritz can do anything about it. So both armies spend most of their time foraging for food during the stand-off.
Eventually MT goes behind his back and gets Catherine to force Joseph to make peace, by threatening to get Russia involved on Fritz's side if he doesn't.
Re: Dueling
Date: 2020-01-17 04:03 am (UTC)Re: Dueling
Date: 2020-01-17 01:37 pm (UTC)